Did Nathan Horton’s separated shoulder limit him more than concussion?

BOLTON — One of the more interesting tidbits to emerge from Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli in the days following the Bruins’ Stanley Cup championship was that Nathan Horton, who was shut down after his Game 3 concussion, had also been playing the latter part of the postseason with a separated shoulder.

On Monday, Horton talked about the shoulder for the first time of the preseason, saying that his recovery from the injury was just as big a deal as that of his concussion.

“It definitely was my shoulder too, as well as my concussion,” Horton said. “Now I feel good, I feel a lot better than I did. ‘¦ We still have another month before the season starts, so I’ll be ready to go.”

Horton added that when he had to take a little longer before beginning workouts, it was because of the shoulder.

“I think so,” Horton said when asked whether the shoulder limited him more in the offseason than the concussion. “For a little bit there, for sure, I could have started a little bit earlier, but I took some time off. I guess that’s what happens during the playoffs, right? The season’s so long. Everyone battled through a lot of different injuries. I guess that’s what it’s all about. You want to do that, you want to be able to battle through. In the end, that’s all that matters. We won the Stanley Cup because of people battling through injuries.”

Horton suffered the injury in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, but it certainly wasn’t the notable thing he did in the Bruins’ 1-0. Horton scored the lone goal of the game, taking a pass from David Krejci and tipping it past Dwayne Roloson in the third period to send the B’s to the Stanley Cup finals. After a hit from Canucks’ defenseman Aaron Rome ended his postseason, he was able to remain around the team to celebrate the team’s championship.